This relates to a document of the type which carries a label and, more particularly, to a business form having a pressure sensitive adhesive backed label mounted on a silicone coated spot on a carrier sheet. The label and the carrier sheet may be printed at the same time during a single printing pass through a laser printer or a similar printer.
Business forms of this type have a variety of uses. Such forms may, for example, be used by a state division of motor vehicles for annual license renewals. Typically, a license bureau will have a supply of these forms, each preprinted with fixed, repetitive information on the label and carrier sheet. This preprinted information may include, for example, the name of the state, graphics, and the year and month of expiration. Other fixed information may also be preprinted on the carrier sheet. Typically, such repetitive information is printed using a conventional printing process, such as flexography, gravure, letterpress, lithography, or screen printing.
When a license renewal is purchased by a vehicle owner at the license bureau, additional variable information, unique to the vehicle and vehicle owner, is printed on the label or on the carrier sheet of a form or on both. This unique, variable information may be printed with an impact printer, such as a dot matrix printer, or with a non-impact printer, such as a laser printer, a thermal transfer printer, or an ink jet printer. The vehicle owner subsequently removes the label from the carrier and applies it to the vehicle license plate. The owner may also retain the carrier sheet, or a portion of the carrier sheet, which is printed as the vehicle registration.
A difficulty can arise when printing the unique, variable information at the license bureau printer. The printer used may subject the business form to heating and bending as the form passes through the printer. Additionally, commonly the printer will move the business form through the printing path by gripping it between rotating nip wheels. This mechanical engagement of the form, in combination with bending and heating, may cause the leading edge of the label to separate from the silicone coated spot on the carrier sheet, exposing the pressure sensitive adhesive. At a nip point between nip wheels, the label may release partly or completely from the silicone coated spot on the carrier sheet, causing the label to be deposited in the printer or to adhere to another form or surface after exiting the printer.
It is seen that there is a need for a business form of this type in which the likelihood of the label becoming inadvertently detached from the carrier sheet during printing is reduced, and for a method of manufacturing such a business form.